Lady Lions let first-half lead slip away in 55-49 loss at Northeast

The visiting EMCC Lady Lions let a 10-point, first-half lead slip away en route to dropping a 55-49 road decision to the Northeast Mississippi Lady Tigers during Monday's MACCC basketball action played at Bonner Arnold Coliseum.

In the men's meeting played on the Scooba campus, the EMCC Lions won their fifth straight game and moved into a tie for first place in the conference standings with an emphatic 87-57 home victory over the Northeast Tigers.

The EMCC women grabbed a six-point lead (16-10) at the end of the opening 10 minutes of play in Booneville on Ramya King's three-pointer. After the Lady Lions extended their lead to 10 points two different times during the second quarter, Northeast went on an 8-2 run during the final three minutes of the half to cut the deficit to four points (31-27) by the break.

Coming out of intermission, the low-scoring third quarter featured three ties as the visitors clung to a one-point lead (39-38) heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

Northeast reclaimed the lead for good on baskets by Jasmine Malone and Ella Mask to open the fourth quarter. In maintaining the advantage the rest of the way, the Lady Tigers closed out the six-point win with their largest lead of the contest. They scored their last seven points from the charity stripe over the game's final minute of play.        

Though both teams struggled from the field by shooting under 35 percent for the game, the Lady Lions were further hurt by committing 10 more turnovers (24-14) than Northeast.

Without a player scoring in double figures on the night, EMCC was led by Kennedi Jimison and Hannah McDougle with nine and eight points, respectively. Holding a 46-35 rebounding advantage in the game, the Lady Lions were paced on the boards by Sukkima Suell and McDougle with nine and eight rebounds, respectively.

With only six players seeing action in the contest, the Northeast women were led by Alexis Rowe's game-high 19 points. Malone and Mask added 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Lady Tigers.

The EMCC-NEMCC men's contest was never in doubt from the opening tipoff at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum. After the Lions scored the game's first 11 points, the closest the Tigers would get the remainder of the game would be eight points midway through the first half.

EMCC reached the halftime break with a 46-28 advantage and then opened the second stanza with a highlight-worthy baseline slam by Blake Butler for a three-point play. The Lions went on to maintain their lead of 20 points or more throughout the second half by shooting 54 percent from the field following intermission.

Along with a 46-29 rebounding margin contributing to the 30-point final margin was EMCC's 51 percent shooting from the field for the contest. While the Lions connected on 31-of-61 field goals for the game, they also limited the Tigers to just 34 percent shooting (19-56 FGs) from the field on the night.

Butler totaled 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to lead all game scorers, while fellow third-year sophomore guard Kevin Henry matched that scoring effort with a career-high 19 points on 7-of-11 field goal shooting. DJ Avery equaled his season best with 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 accuracy from beyond the three-point arc. Freshman Andrew Mason added 11 points off the EMCC bench in the winning effort.

Jalin Rice led Northeast's trio of double-digit scorers with 15 points, while Caleb Parr and Corey Stephenson followed with 14 and 11 points, respectively, for the Tigers.

The East Mississippi basketball teams will begin the month of February by taking on the Pearl River Wildcats on Thursday (Feb. 2). Head coach Billy Begley's 15-2 EMCC Lions, currently tied with Itawamba atop the MACCC men's standings at 6-1 in league play, will travel to Poplarville, while head coach Isaiah Butler's EMCC Lady Lions (5-8, 3-3 MACCC) will play host to the PRCC women at Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus. Both contests are set for 6 p.m. tip-offs.